Schulte, P A · Reviews of infectious diseases · 1991 · DOI
This paper explains how scientists should evaluate biological markers—measurable signs in blood, tissue, or other body samples—before using them in ME/CFS research. The authors provide a practical checklist that researchers should follow to make sure these markers are reliable, meaningful, and won't be affected by other factors. This helps ensure that future ME/CFS studies measure things accurately and produce trustworthy results.
For ME/CFS research to move forward, scientists need reliable ways to measure disease activity and biological changes. This paper provides a quality-control framework that helps ensure future ME/CFS biomarker studies will be rigorous and comparable, building stronger evidence for understanding the disease's biological basis and potentially identifying diagnostic tests.
This paper does not identify any specific ME/CFS biomarkers or prove that particular biological markers are valid for the disease. It is a methodological guide, not an empirical study, so it does not present new data about ME/CFS biology itself. The checklist is advisory and does not guarantee that any marker will ultimately be useful in clinical practice.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Schulte, P A (1991). Validation of biologic markers for use in research on chronic fatigue syndrome.. Reviews of infectious diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/clinids/13.supplement_1.s87
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-schulte-1991-validation-biologic,
author = {Schulte, P A},
title = {Validation of biologic markers for use in research on chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Reviews of infectious diseases},
year = {1991},
doi = {10.1093/clinids/13.supplement_1.s87},
note = {PubMed: 2020808},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/schulte-1991-validation-biologic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/schulte-1991-validation-biologic
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